Duke's Jack Wohlabaugh on Practice: Shields on Facemasks the Only Difference
Last season, Duke opened the schedule with a game against Alabama. It looked like this year, the Blue Devils would get a chance to ease into their season with non-conference games against a schedule that included Middle Tennessee, Elon and Charlotte.
The pandemic forced changes to the schedule, however, and, instead, Duke will meet Notre Dame in the opener.
Center Jack Wohlabaugh shrugged off the upgrade in the opening day opponent, however.
“We kind of thought the schedule would change,” he said. “It’s good to finally see it what it is, what it’s going to be. Notre Dame is a great team. We respect that. We’re still going to prepare as we would, no matter who we played in the first game. It’s definitely exciting when you open up with a team like them.”
Wohlabaugh and the rest of the offensive line are still getting to know new line coach Greg Frey.
“I feel really good,” he said. “Spring ball got cut short because of coronavirus, so we’re still getting used to Coach Frey, learning, getting more comfortable with his drills. We have a really good bond with him. We trust Coach Frey. I think we’re in a really good spot on offensive line. We have a lot of depth with (Stanford transfer) Devery (Hamilton) coming in and the new freshmen. I think we’re in a really good spot.”
The team was excited about the opening of preseason practice, but the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic still hangs over Duke’s preparation.
“I think we all hope we have a season and it all goes smooth,” Wohlabaugh said. “It’s really fluctuated. I think sometimes it was really concerning and we didn’t really know what was happening, especially with other sports going on and getting cancelled. But as for practice, workouts and everything leading up to this, we’ve been distancing, trying to follow guidelines. Practice went pretty smooth. We had shields on our facemasks, but everything felt pretty normal besides that.”
